You're Allowed to Make Content
Onboarding · Month One
Pilots who fly six or more fleets in their first month are the ones still here three months later. You will not get six fleets by waiting for a well-known FC to ping at a time that suits you. Sometimes you have to start one.
You do not need permission, a title, or a tribe to form cheap content. If standing fleet is empty, form one. Activity creates activity.
How far to go
You are not expected to FC a strategic op in your first month. Here is the ladder:
| Level | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Join | Next #pings: join the fleet, read the MOTD, push-to-talk, undock. A soft ping is enough. |
| Soft lead | On militia comms, form standing fleet or an uncontested battlefield in cheap ships. If a real fight lands, ask for a backup FC. |
| Alliance schedule | Schedule or flash-form a fleet on the site. Post it on #schedule when it is real. |
| Grow as an FC | The Fleet Commanders tribe is for recognition and development. It is not a gate on forming cheap content. |
Your first soft lead
- Pick something small: standing fleet, a few plexes in one system, or an uncontested battlefield.
- Make an in-game fleet and advertise it to the militia.
- Say on militia comms what you are doing and what to bring. "Cheap Navy destroyers, we're plexing in [system]" is a complete fleet plan.
- Fly cheap ships. Everyone, including you.
- If a fight bigger than you shows up, ask on comms whether a more experienced FC can take over. Nobody will mind.
Battlefields are the easiest first content to lead. The site tells everyone what to do, and the Faction Warfare Battlefields guide covers the roles.
Scheduling on the site
Alliance members can create fleets from the Fleets page:
- Schedule fleet puts a fleet on the alliance schedule for a set time. New fleets default to the Alliance audience.
- Flash form pings alliance members to join a fleet right now. Create the fleet in game, with an advert, first.
When it is a real fleet, make sure it shows on #schedule so people can plan around it.
Cheap ships, your own risk
Practice roams and soft forms should be in ships you can afford to lose. Ship replacement covers specific fleet types, and your soft form probably is not one of them. See Trial, SRP, and Getting Help.
Go deeper
- New Player Fleet Guide: the pilot side of a fleet, which is also what your fleet members need from you.
- Faction Warfare Essentials: picking systems and plexes worth running.
Next, during trial: Trial, SRP, and Getting Help.
